White House cuts short Biden’s trip abroad amid debt ceiling talks
Naomi Lim
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President Joe Biden will gather with world leaders at the Group of Seven meeting in Japan, but the White House has reevaluated his trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea amid a debt ceiling standoff.
Biden will now no longer travel to Australia and Papua New Guinea, instead returning to the U.S. this Sunday, according to the White House.
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“What I can speak to is G-7 and going to Hiroshima,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters earlier Tuesday. “We’re reevaluating the rest of the trip right now,” Kirby said, noting Biden will sit down with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hiroshima anyway.
“The president often has to make tough decisions about how and where he’s gonna spend his time,” he added.
Kirby also downplayed the diplomatic problems posed by the possibility of a default as Biden seeks to restore U.S. standing overseas, though he conceded China and Russia would “love nothing more” than the country not being able to pay its bills. He underscored that the U.S. is still “a strong, reliable partner” and said the blame lies with Republicans because Congress has not done “its job.”
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“We do not expect that this will, to use your phrase, overshadow the G-7,” he said. “I do not expect that this is going to dominate the discussion.”
Biden was scheduled to travel from Japan to Australia for a Quad summit before becoming the first president to visit Papua New Guinea early next week.